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AirStrip Expands Mobile EMR Development with Wellcome Trust Funding

AirStrip Technologies is based in San Antonio, TX, but the startup has been expanding its ties in San Diego since Alan Portela stepped in as CEO almost two years ago.

Portela, who was previously a longtime health IT executive with San Diego-based CliniComp International, says AirStrip has been moving from its origins in technology that enables mobile monitoring of patient vital signs to developing cloud-based technology that can provide patient data to caregivers anywhere. AirStrip recently closed on a substantial investment by the Wellcome Trust to advance technology that will enable caregivers to use their smartphones and other mobile devices to access patients’ electronic medical records (EHR) anywhere.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. But Portela told me in a recent phone interview the Wellcome investment amounted to more than $10 million.

Alan Portela

AirStrip was founded in San Antonio by W. Cameron Powell, an obstetrician, and Trey Moore, a software developer, to remotely track the vital signs of pregnant women and their near-term babies. The system has enabled doctors and other caregivers to track their patients’ vital signs on their smartphones and tablets while they’re away from the labor and delivery suites.

AirStrip certified its technology for use as a class II medical device in 2005, and the company subsequently developed additional monitoring capabilities for tracking the vital signs of heart patients and others, including acute care patients headed for a hospital emergency room. The company says its remote monitoring apps have also been designated with the CE mark for use in Europe.

“We are definitely making a huge impact in healthcare,” says Portela, explaining that AirStrip’s technology has enabled doctors to … Next Page »